Am I the only one who actually likes Trackpoint devices? They're SO much better than touchpads and it's nice for when a mouse, even an optical mouse, is inconvenient.
Am I the only one who actually likes Trackpoint devices? They're SO much better than touchpads and it's nice for when a mouse, even an optical mouse, is inconvenient.
I actually have the touchpad on my Thinkpad disabled because the trackpoint is so much better. But yeah, the lack mouse has given me a crick in my hand today. >_<
Are those the little nubby red things on laptop keyboards? Those are awful.
They rule if you are a touch-typist. It's great to be able to move the mouse pointer without having to take your fingers off of home row. They aren't the most precise things out there, but I don't need that much precision when I'm just moving the mouse pointer to do things like select text, click in another window, etc.
Trackpads are pretty weak, although I've mostly experienced them on cheaper laptops where they are kinda crappy. I generally prefer using a mouse to one, though. I did spend a few minutes screwing around with Apple's MagicPad while at an Apple Store the other day. Better than most trackpads, but I'll stick with some sort of mouse if I can.
I use my trackpad with my thumb while keeping my fingers over the keyboard all the time.
That said, I really like having an external keyboard plugged into my laptop if I'm at a desk, and I have a MagicPad too, which is probably the most awesome way to control a mouse pointer ever.
Finally, I HATE track pads on non-Apple laptops. They don't use the same acceleration algorithms, or something, and are just horrific to use.
See, I don't like using the trackpad with my thumb because of the need to use another hand to click the appropriate buttons. With a trackpoint, I just use my index finger to move around and use my thumbs to click.
I use my trackpad with my thumb while keeping my fingers over the keyboard all the time.
Yeah. I like to hover between having my right hand on both the keyboard/trackpad and having it on my mouse for different tasks. And of course my left hand just rests on the keyboard/trackpad. Most efficient way I've used a computer.
Tap to click is annoying as hell. Means I can't even touch the touchpad transiently without causing issues.
Also, scooting my thumb further down the pad to click doesn't work when I want to drag, although I guess on a Mac it may work better.
FWIW, I'm probably going to switch from a Mac desktop and Windows laptop to a Mac laptop and Windows desktop next time I upgrade my hardware. At that point, I'll finally have a laptop with a non-crappy touchpad.
The tap to click on the Mac laptops isn't super sensitive, so you have some leeway. Also, the bottom half of the touchpad on the new ones has incorporated the mouse buttons. It's one solid touchpad surface, but there is a distinct clicking mechanic at the bottom part of it that the top part doesn't have.
Again, I've mostly experienced PC track pads recently... My wife has a MacBook Pro, though it's the last gen with a separate button. I haven't played much with the newer models yet, though.
My co-writer, the guy who actually sorts my stream of lore, rule sets, and crazy bullshit into a workable game, has been AFK for nearly a week and I am going to have an aneurysm over it. I have two test games to run in the next two days with two different groups and if I have to run another game out of 30 different openoffice files I will lose my goddamn mind.
The Mac trackpads, and the magsafe power connectors are worth every penny of the markup over comparably specced out PC laptops.
Certainly a valid argument. I can't complain too much over my Acer that I paid like $450 for, but I knew it was cheap at the time and I bought it as basically a slightly more capable netbook. Still, I do want to do iOS development as a hobby/side job and I'll need a Mac for that. When I replace my Mac desktop with a PC, then I'll have to go with a Mac laptop to keep doing that.
Magsafe is awesome not just because it stops your MacBook from being pulled off a table. It's way handier to hold a connector near where it needs to be and let it snap into place by itself than to have to jam it in there. And on the two non-Magsafe laptops I've owned, both of them had problems with the power connector coming loose, and both needed fixing, while the same kind of problem is impossible with Magsafe.
Let me put it this way: I like the "mag" just as much as the "safe".
i fucking love magnets! that said, i love magsafe, but boy is it a pain in a metal shop. I've had to fish little shards of steel out of the port too many times.
A group of twenty somethings trying to justify a 25-30% price premium because of a magnetic power coupling is a fun thing to observe...
Bit more than that. Of course, there is the whole OS question -- if you prefer OS X for whatever reason, there's no other option other than a dodgy Hackintosh which has its own issues. The chassis are actually quite nice -- they're carved out of a single piece of solid aluminum. The touchpads also are anecdotally better than anything available on PC laptops. Finally, if you do have a problem, their customer/tech support is better than anyone else's out there. You actually can go to a store, staffed by competent support people, who speak fluent English, and often get your machine repaired while you wait. Now, whether you think this is worth the markup or not depends on your individual situation and priorities.
I suppose, but how many people on this forum are using tech support? "Premium" build quality is nice, but essential? Not really. I'd be willing to bet that somewhere around 70% of people who buy a MacBook use it for nothing they couldn't do on a $300 Toshiba (which, incidentally, have excellent build quality despite being mostly plastic).
Macs are an image thing the great majority of the time, although they undoubtedly have advantages. All of my desktops are Macs.
Speaking as someone who has a $450 Acer, I got what you mean about the $300 Toshiba. It's true that most people who use a MacBook could probably also get by with the Toshiba. However, if you have a dependency on Mac applications, the $300 Toshiba isn't gonna cut it. Also, MacBooks typically do have better specs than your $300 Toshibas or whatever. If you were comparing it to something closer to the $800 or so price range, you would have a better point.
Well, if you're a graphic designer who cut their teeth on Macs, then you are pretty much going to be using them, even though Adobe CS is cross-platform. Macs are also still pretty much the standard in design. Windows versions of Adobe CS tend to be used by graphic design departments in companies that are not focused on design, whereas full-time graphic design companies still stick with the Mac.
FWIW, one could argue that the Mac is superior for print design due in part to its font rendering algorithms. Windows' font rendering algorithms sacrifices the shape of the characters to make them fit in the on-screen pixel grid. OS X, however, uses an algorithm that tries to preserve the shape of the characters as much as possible, even if it doesn't precisely fit within the pixel grid. That, combined with OS X's PDF-based screen rendering technology, may provide a higher-quality WYSIWYG view of your documents than Windows does.
Graphics Design on Mac is largely cultural, though...
Maybe the font thing, but I suspect that's pretty weak sauce. I know my screen fonts often look like ass in Snow Leopard. I'm still resisting Lion (although Java 7 is not available for Snow Leopard so that may force me.)
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Trackpads are pretty weak, although I've mostly experienced them on cheaper laptops where they are kinda crappy. I generally prefer using a mouse to one, though. I did spend a few minutes screwing around with Apple's MagicPad while at an Apple Store the other day. Better than most trackpads, but I'll stick with some sort of mouse if I can.
That said, I really like having an external keyboard plugged into my laptop if I'm at a desk, and I have a MagicPad too, which is probably the most awesome way to control a mouse pointer ever.
Finally, I HATE track pads on non-Apple laptops. They don't use the same acceleration algorithms, or something, and are just horrific to use.
Also, scooting my thumb further down the pad to click doesn't work when I want to drag, although I guess on a Mac it may work better.
FWIW, I'm probably going to switch from a Mac desktop and Windows laptop to a Mac laptop and Windows desktop next time I upgrade my hardware. At that point, I'll finally have a laptop with a non-crappy touchpad.
Let me put it this way: I like the "mag" just as much as the "safe".
that said, i love magsafe, but boy is it a pain in a metal shop. I've had to fish little shards of steel out of the port too many times.
Macs are an image thing the great majority of the time, although they undoubtedly have advantages. All of my desktops are Macs.
There are very few Mac applications that are killer apps. Mine is iPhoto and... that's about it.
I do prefer having a Unix back-end, but that's just preference.
FWIW, one could argue that the Mac is superior for print design due in part to its font rendering algorithms. Windows' font rendering algorithms sacrifices the shape of the characters to make them fit in the on-screen pixel grid. OS X, however, uses an algorithm that tries to preserve the shape of the characters as much as possible, even if it doesn't precisely fit within the pixel grid. That, combined with OS X's PDF-based screen rendering technology, may provide a higher-quality WYSIWYG view of your documents than Windows does.
Maybe the font thing, but I suspect that's pretty weak sauce. I know my screen fonts often look like ass in Snow Leopard. I'm still resisting Lion (although Java 7 is not available for Snow Leopard so that may force me.)